Arcade Game Power Consumption

[FrizzleFried]

Every so often I like to go through my games and run them through a KILL-A-WATT device to determine consumption to make sure I'm not overloading any one circuit.

Here are the results for today:

Code: [Select]

CIRCUIT (AMPS)    NAME                LOW AMPS    HIGH AMPS  AVERAGE AMP
1 (20)        Williams Multigame        1.05        1.06        1.06
1 (20)        Armor Attack              1.00        1.47        1.30
1 (20)        Star Castle               0.82        1.12        1.00
1 (20)        Battlezone                1.77        2.06        1.90
1 (20)        Black Widow               1.60        2.04        1.95
1 (20)        Star Wars/ESB             2.12        2.63        2.45
             TOTAL                     08.36       10.38       09.66
2 (20)        Asteroids Deluxe          1.61        1.69        1.65
2 (20)        Tempest                   2.12        2.61        2.35
2 (20)        Marble Madness            2.15        2.25        2.20
2 (20)        Horizontal MAME           1.43        1.65        1.50
2 (20)        Super Punch Out           1.62        1.77        1.71
2 (20)        Multi-DK (Arcadeshop)     0.98        1.08        1.02
2 (20)        Golden Tee/Siver Strike   2.54        3.27        3.05
2 (20)        Race Drivin' (upright)    1.58        1.77        1.72
2 (20)        Rush The Rock Alcatraz    2.19        2.79        2.60
             TOTAL                     16.22       18.88       17.80
3 (15)        Arachnid Super 6 Darts    1.33        1.56        1.56
3 (15)        Cocktail MAME/Jukebox     1.69        2.17        1.95
3 (15)        Paperboy                  2.60        2.70        2.68
3 (15)        Multipede (ArcadeSD)      0.98        0.99        0.99
3 (15)        Spy Hunter                1.66        1.73        1.69
3 (15)        Seeburg "Disco" Jukebox   1.95        2.25        2.10
3 (15)        Multi Pac Man (96-in-1)   1.05        1.06        1.06
3 (15)        Gorf                      1.51        1.69        1.65
3 (15)        Wizard of Wor             1.46        1.47        1.47
             TOTAL                     14.23       15.62       15.15(thanks for cleaning it up gwarble)


As you can see... I have potential problems in with circuits 2 and 3. To catch any problem before it occurs, I'll be moving Asteroids Deluxe to Circuit 1 from Circuit 2 freeing up 1.65amps bringing me very close to the 16amp goal (16.15amps or so)... I will also move the cocktail and Super Six cabs from the 15amp Circuit 3 to circuit 1 freeing up 3.51amps from circuit 3 bringing the average down from an unaccepable 15.15 amps to a more comforable 11.64 amps (that 15amp circuit should run no more than 12 amps optimally)... which will bring Circuit 1 up from 9.66amps to 14.82amps. Omega Race is currently down and usually runs on that circuit. I am guessing OR will draw about 2 amps bringing the total up to 16.82 amps... luckily the Super Six Dart cab usually isn't running when the games are all running and vice-versa so there should be no problem. That said, I am pretty damn close to my max draw... I sure as hell can't run any heat or A/C if I'm running all the cabs... and also luckily I have a 4th shared circuit (shared with our living room) that I use to power the two pins... Ideally I'd add another 20 amp circuit dedicated to heat/AC but the panel is full... and if all games are running I don't really need heat anyway... though A/C in the summer is pretty much needed so I just don't run all the games at once then (and the portable A/C's use about 7amp each ... much less than the 12amps each heater sucks down.

A few surprises this time around... first off, I've never seen a vector game run as low powered as the two Cinematronics games I have. Atari B&W games take about 50% more power. Another oddity... Black Widow. The game uses significantly less power than Star Wars or Tempest... both also running WG6100 monitors... why? Paperboy is again toward the top of the power hungry list.. which I thought was a "medium res" thing, but look at Marble Madness... a System 1 title... being a 19" standard res raster game I figured it would use 1.00 to 1.5 amps... at most. Nope... 2.2amps. I have no idea why. Even Super Punch Out, with TWO monitors running, comes in at 1.71... a full half amp less than Marble Madness. At this point my best guess is Atari's linear power supply isn't the most efficient... My highest consumer of power is now my Golden Tee Complete/Silver Strike Bowling cabinet which makes sense considering the cab has two complete PCB sets (one being a full on PC) inside it. Rush the Rock beat Paperboy by a whopping .02 amps... and another thing to take note of is the Gorf / Wizard of Wor numbers... they both run on the same hardware... the difference being the additional lighting in Gorf.

[FrizzleFried]

I've done tests on pins... they very widely depending on the game... the number of solenoids firing... etc.   The average pin SS pin in attract mode pulls between 1.5 to 2.0 amps... but fire it up and and play and I've seen some hit 4 amps for a second or two.  I also have never tested DMD screen pins...

[leapinlew]

I'd open up the receptacles on the 15a line to see if the wiring is 12ga. If it is, you can swap out that 15amp to a 20amp if they still make your breakers.

[FrizzleFried]

I'd open up the receptacles on the 15a line to see if the wiring is 12ga. If it is, you can swap out that 15amp to a 20amp if they still make your breakers.

That's actually a good idea... but I am guessing it's 14ga as the builder of these homes were known to use the cheapest crap they could get their hands on (unfortunately for me).


Worth checking though for sure!

[ChadTower]

Vector monitors draw more current when there is more activity on screen.  It's not like a raster that is consistently sweeping the guns.  Star Wars has by far the most intense vector graphics on that list.  It makes sense that it would be pulling more amps than the others.  Major Havoc would probably be right there with it if you had one.

[FrizzleFried]

Vector monitors draw more current when there is more activity on screen.  It's not like a raster that is consistently sweeping the guns.  Star Wars has by far the most intense vector graphics on that list.  It makes sense that it would be pulling more amps than the others.  Major Havoc would probably be right there with it if you had one.

Explain Tempest which has about the same... or less... than Black widow (aside from the TEMPEST title screen part).

[Gray_Area]

Are there factory specs listed somewhere for machines?

[FrizzleFried]

Paperboy surprised me too.  This is my 2nd Paperboy and my last one measured the same.  My guess is the multiple power supplies it uses (linear + switcher)... I was surprised by the Marble Madness numbers as well as it's a standard res cab.

BTW... I tested Chads theory last night.  I ran Asteroids and measured right at game start up with all Asteroids flying around... it averaged around 1.65 amps.   I then killed every asteroid aside from one small asteroid and took note of the amps... yup... 1.65.... well,  I guess I could admit that it was likely closer to 1.64 but come on.

[ChadTower]

Are the Tempest and the Black Widow both 6100s?

There is some basic difference there.  They use the same power block.  The game PCBs are the same basic design.  They use the same AR board.  They use the same fluo marquee light.  If the difference is not the monitor model, and it's not the software driving the monitor, then why don't you tell us what it is?

[leapinlew]

Are the Tempest and the Black Widow both 6100s?

There is some basic difference there.  They use the same power block.  The game PCBs are the same basic design.  They use the same AR board.  They use the same fluo marquee light.  If the difference is not the monitor model, and it's not the software driving the monitor, then why don't you tell us what it is?

Chad responds 2 seconds after you post, or 2 months.